Effects of Symmetry and Number of Compositional Elements on Chinese Users’ Aesthetic Ratings of Interfaces

摘要

This paper investigates the effects of symmetry and number of compositional elements on interface aesthetics rating of Chinese users with abstract black-and-white geometric images as experimental stimuli. The two independent variables each has three levels. The dependent variable is subjective ratings of aesthetic appeal. The experimental results show that symmetry of compositional elements significantly affects aesthetic ratings of Chinese users, whereas neither the number of compositional elements nor gender has a significant effect on aesthetic ratings. The difference between the present results and the results from previous studies with American users and some possible explanations of the results are discussed.